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Talk:Four Warriors Cometh (Remastered - Part the First)/@comment-2142396-20200111143551
I’m back with another comment! Actually, I already finished book 2, but since the ultimate battle for Salamandastron simply blew my mind with the amount of events and plot threads that come together, and this comment is already long enough, I’d discuss everything up until chapter 23 and put off talking about the battle for a bit. First things first – you actually were right that I would warm up to Pyralis, his character really commands respect and deep admiration now, and I feel that maybe, his stern guidance was really what Sayna and Tynek needed. He certainly earns extra points for working so hard to make this misfit family of two angsty teens and a bouncy dragon function normally. His first attempt to arrange a family dinner that resulted in Sayna and Tynek just sitting there in silence was hilarious! :D And Pyralis is really wise – he is looking at the big picture and thinking about what would be better for everyone suffering from Greeneyes’ rule while Sayna just mopes in self-misery and Tynek sulks. I was surprised when Pyralis revealed that he is, in fact, a widower – since it was never mentioned before, I just assumed that he simply remained single all his life… On a brighter note, when Pyralis mentioned that dragons dance to court their partners, I couldn’t help but imagine Pyralis dancing like Toothless in HtTYD 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqxuEF79imk. :D Ultimately, my greatest issue with Pyralis is how quickly he moved with the whole ‘you are adopted now’ situation and just went with it without giving Sayna and Tynek any time to consider it. Sayna formulated it best when Pyralis told her that she had been adopted before and she answered that she had been raised by her first adopted family her whole life, but only knows him for a few weeks. And Tynek… actually began to speak in complex sentences? :o That’s a ton of progress from him. Hmm, though honestly, this is probably one of the first times Tynek actually got an opportunity to properly socialize – first, he was shunned in his days as a slave and had no one to talk to, and while Rose certainly talked enough for the both of them, the time they had spent together was too short to change much, and then he got stuck with Sayna, and we know that neither of the two had any desire to talk to each other. It’s pretty ironic that despite her bias, Sayna understands Tynek and the way he thinks and reacts to things better than anyone. Even though they had a rocky start, it was interesting to see their relationship develop from barely tolerating each other to actually somewhat enjoying each other’s company. Or at least not hating it, as Tynek would put it. Because seriously, Tynek’s ‘I don’t hate it’ is worth more than a full-blown speech from someone else. ;P And when Tynek tells Pyralis that he would serve him – that moment also hit me pretty hard. Sayna treated Pyralis as an equal, even if she didn’t consider herself worthy of his trust, but Tynek… While Tynek hates slavery of any kind, I get an impression that it’s difficult for him to comprehend any relationships outside of servitude, since he never actually had a chance to experience or build a healthy relationship. Still, his time at Salamandastron seems to make him come out of his shell, and I feel that real Tynek is only just appearing. Indigo is such a dear, her cheerful and upbeat attitude really brightens the scene when she appears on page. And she actually has Bloodwrath? :o If so, I guess that hers isn’t very strong or she isn’t using it much, because she doesn’t appear to struggle with it as much as Sayna and Tynek. And I liked the appearance of Rada, Balder, Asger and Arvid! :) You chose nice names for Rada and Balder, and Arvid is so precious! Sayna certainly needed that sneak hug he gave her – that little scene was so heart-warming! ^^ Though I’m a bit confused by their kingdom’s relation to Salamandastron – at first, Pyralis refers to Rada and Balder as close allies of Salamandastron, but then says that together with Steel and Indigo, they are leaders of Salamandastron? It probably makes no difference except for whether or not Rada and Balder take orders from Pyralis like Indigo and Steel, who command the rabbits but still refer to Pyralis as their king…Also, it’s a little detail, but I was very touched when Asger and Arvid included Servant of the North in their game, because it means that while Groddil doesn’t think highly of himself, he is still known and respected by the woodlanders, even if they don’t know who he is. ;) The inner workings of Salamandastron are an interesting topic of itself, so prepare to get a lot of question on them. The rabbits and dragons of Salamandastron co-inhabit the mountain, but there doesn’t seem to be much communication between them as dragons stay underground and the rabbits stay on the surface – if I’m not mistaken, then Pyralis is actually the only dragon who interacts with rabbits? From what Indigo said, I understand that some of the Bloodwrathers fled to Salamandastron after Verdauga’s conquest of Mossflower, but all of the fur creatures living there are rabbits – does it mean that the rabbits are naturally more inclined to have Bloodwrath? Or were they just the only ones that managed to escape and the Bloodwrathers of other species simply were killed off by Verdauga? And for how long this union between the rabbits and dragons existed – was it formed 35 years ago when the rabbits fled from Mossflower to Salamandastron, or had it occurred even before that and the refugees only joined the already existing group? It would’ve been interesting to learn more about the fire dragons and their lore, since they weren’t featured much compared to, for example, the dragons in TotO, whom we got to know very well, but I can see why you would sacrifice their page time to focus on Sayna’s development as a character. Also, how big is Pyralis compared to other full grown fire dragons – for example, Lifa? We know that he is huge compared to the fur creatures, but is he equally as large compared to his own kind? Aww, Bane is actually super sweet once you get to know him! ^^ His transition from a ragged alcoholic to a caring father was maybe a little too quick and painless, as substance addiction is a habit that’s very hard to break, but on the other hand, Brek and thus us hadn’t really known Bane before, so maybe he simply didn’t have any reason to be responsible and was drinking simply because he had nothing and no one else in his life, and the life of a Greeneyes soldier can be tough… I can see that Fortunata, too, is a victim of her upbringing and that she was warped by the views of the society around her – the scene when she asks Bane why he helps her when she is not beautiful or powerful anymore really hit me. And she is still proud enough that she’d rather suffer in silence than allow Bane to see her misery and bold enough to challenge Ferran – well, at least to let him know what she thinks about him, - so that at least calls for some respect. And to see how Bane and Forty actually begin to really care about each other instead of being tied to each other by the sense of duty and dependence was beyond touching. You did it, Sayna, you made me care about the couple that I thought to be impossible! Lol, and I didn’t know that Fragorl has a sense of humor, even if it’s black humor. :D ‘Can you do anything for her?’ ‘Curse her.’ Even though Fragorl said this as an expression, I still find it hilarious because cursing someone is basically the only magic Fragorl is capable of, so her answer is pretty literal. ;P However, if I’m remembering right, Fragorl is capable of healing magic, even if she would pay by giving up a part of her own life, so technically wouldn’t she be able to keep Fortunata alive long enough for her to give birth? I suppose that the reasons she says she can’t do anything to help Forty are more personal – she obviously wasn’t very happy about Ferran having a kit with Forty to begin with, so she isn’t going to spend her magic and her life force on someone like Fortunata. By the way, it appears that Tsarmina had actually completely abandoned Fortunata to her fate, so I wonder if Ferran knew about that before Bane brought them there when Forty’s condition worsen? Because while Ferran doesn’t care about her, he would certainly want her to carry her pregnancy to term and give birth to a healthy kit, and that requires at least making sure that the mother is fed properly – and it appears that all the food Forty received came from Bane. Or maybe Tsarmina and Ferran knew that Bane was bringing Fortunata food and decided it was enough to keep her alive? There’s not much to say about Luna and Sandingomm in these chapters, but I certainly liked getting a better insight into Sandi’s seer abilities. I find it interesting that Sandi doesn’t take her visions for granted and doesn’t assume that they can’t be changed – her approach is not ‘I know that you can’t die there, so we shouldn’t worry’, but rather ‘You aren’t supposed to die there, so you should be careful and not risk herself’. And Sandingomm had been having visions since she was four or even earlier? O_o Losing your whole family in Verdauga’s conquest is hard enough, but seeing it all beforehand and being helpless to do anything while your nightmare becomes reality must’ve been a torture for her. :( Now, I hope that Luna and Sandi would find some help soon – at least they were not that far from Salamandastron when they crushed down… Poor Gina, it seems that she cannot really escape the curse of being a half-blood – to the Kotirians, she had always been a half-mouse, but the Mossflowerians only see the rat part of her heritage. Well, to be fair, it’s only Amber who is outraged at her being a half-blood, but she makes the point of her being a crossbreed so often that it almost seems as if she despises Regina for being a half-blood even more than she despises Whegg for being a rat. But it’s Amber, so she’s probably above such petty biases and hates them equally. :P Though the idea of Gina being related to the king’s line is interesting – after all, golden fur is noted to be almost exclusively connected to the Lukes. And while Verdauga would’ve killed all the members of the royal family, I think it wouldn’t be impossible for Regina’s mother to be a more distant relation, like, say, a cousin several times removed. ;) Oh, and actually, in chapter 17, the same passage is repeated almost word to word with only slight variations, so I assume it’s a typo of some sort? Currently, when the Council questions Gina, there’s this passage: ‘''Gina shrugged. “Half-bloods, criminals, prisoners of war. Basically the creatures he considers the lowest a the low.” '' Silence filled the night, broken only by the gently keening wind through the tree tops. Far in the distance, Whegg could hear a gentle rumble of thunder.''.. her voice betraying her distaste. '' ''“Half-bloods, criminals, prisoners a war. Anyone he deems the lowest a the low.” Gina looked away. “They all shared my fate.” '' ''Utter silence filled the night, broken only by the soft keening of wind in the treetops. Far off in the distance, Whegg thought he heard thunder. He squeezed Gina’s paw again, feeling that any second, the quiet would explode into yelling.’ '' And continuing on the topic of oath-binding that we started in the previous thread, I’m curious how the magic would react to the oath-giver simply not defining the oath well enough? For example, when Whegg went into Kotir to rescue Gina, he said, ‘If I should be found out, I swear to betray no secrets I have learned’. But let us say that he didn’t swear to say nothing in case he is captured, and then he is hypothetically caught by Tsarmina’s soldiers. Since he technically didn’t mention anything about such a possibility while giving the oath, how would magic react to Whegg spilling everything out? And would it matter in this case whether Whegg had given away the information willingly or whether it was tortured out of him, since his intent would be different in these two cases?